Chris Browne (Elephant & Castle, Charlie Chaplins) thinks Beats Per Minute mixing is a fine idea with many possibilities, BUT . . . “in the wrong hands it could bore the arse off every discotheque patron in the land!” Chris continues, “I’ve always mixed by ear and by gut feel, which – I think – is the best method. BPM should be used more as a guide line than a strict rule. What happens, for instance, if a punter requests something that rates 130bpm and you’re playing at around 120bpm? ‘Sorry mate, I’m not playing that tempo at the moment . . .’ (broken nose, etc)! Let’s just hope that BPM doesn’t create a lot of ‘instant DJ’s’ with robotic formats.” Pretty much the message I’ve been trying to get across, Chris. Anyway, the result is that jocks have been practising their mixing whether the BPM’s or not, and here are some of their segue suggestions. First-time mixer Dave Middleton (Bletchley Peaches) tried ‘Instant Replay’ into ‘In The Bush’ into ‘I’m A Man’ into ‘Que Tal America’, and found it worked – look ma, no voice! More adventurous but also a beginner, Tony Green (Ainsdale Tiffanys) found percussion mixes easy regardless of different BPM speeds, and suggests mixing into and out of the percussion break of Lonnie Liston Smith, Gene Chandler, Lakeside, Village People (US 12in remix). Phil Mitchell (Hull University Soul Club) takes the tempo up in steps with Weather Report ‘River People’, Marvin Gaye ‘Funky Space Reincarnation’, Instant Funk, Olympic Runners ‘Sir Dancealot’, which builds you up nicely to any freak tempo disc. Veteran mixer Simon Greenwood (Esher & Bristol Le Village Discos) gets sophisticated with Caroline Crawford ‘Coming On Strong’, mixing Paradise Express ‘Dance’ (minus the first 20 secs) under Caroline’s accapella vocal break, which he whips out when she’s said her bit, then near the end of ‘Dance’ either chopping into Sylvester ‘Dance (Disco Heat)’ or mixing into Peaches & Herb ‘Groove Thing’ 12in. Finally, jazz-funker Chris Lee (Canvey Bardots) creates excitement with the crowd effects of Instant Funk ‘Wide World Of Sports’, mixing outro into Willie Bobo ‘Always There’, Rainbow ‘I Like It’, Sea Level ‘54’, Ayers & Henderson ‘Lovers Should Always Be Together’ (LP track at 45 rpm), all straightforward mixes at appropriate points towards the end of each.

Disco News

Orville Sweeney switches his disco promotion desk from Anchor to RCA this week . . . Gary’s Gang is out on 12in next week! . . . Players Association and T-Connection LPs are due then too, with Bell & James, Joe Simon ‘Love Vibration’ and Krypton ‘Can You Read My Mind’ 12ins to follow mid-month . . . T-Connection indeed is, but Deborah Washington is however not on commercial 12in, and Bob Marley ‘Stir It Up’ isn’t even on 7in now as another is being chosen . . . Ariola launch special limited edition gold vinyl extended 7in versions this week of 3 Degrees, Chanson, Deborah Washington, Winners, John Paul Young, Sugar Cane ‘Valhevala’ and Linda Fletcher ‘Hush’, 10,000 of each . . . Love Symphony Orchestra is coming on Miracle, but will it be the Penthouse Pets sleeve?! . . . Gregg Diamond ‘Starcruiser’ is on 7:17 US 12in with 10:06 ‘This Side Of Midnight’ flip (thanx for info, Adrian Sykes, Tottenham) . . . WEA’s big 12in plans include simultaneous release in shoppers’ browser pack of twelve LV’s with an upped price of £1.79 – cheaper than imports still – to include such as Aquarian Dream, Howard Kenney and other recent biggies . . . Dave Rawlings (Basingstoke Maxwells) speed-spins Grover Washington Jr ‘Do Dat’ at about 130bpm by varying the 7in speed to halfway between 45 and 78rpm (funny decks you’ve got Dave!), at which it’s then a good jazz-funk flier . . . Dartford Flicks is gaining Studio 54-type queues and now not only have you got to look funky and freaky to get in but this Saturday DJ Cohn Hudd will be allowing in any funksters clutching copies of Record Mirror – but you gotta get there early to get in at all!

New Spins

REAL THING: ‘Can You Feel The Force?’ (Pye 7NL 46147)
Long a fave on LP and now huge due to some timely 12in promos, this dynamite brassily leaping 132bpm “whup-whup-whoo-hoo” rhythm rattler has been remixed with added applause and a terrifically freaky ‘Star Wars’-style 53 second intro that’s great running through, say, ‘Que Tal America’ or the ‘Countdown/This Is It’ rhythm break. It’s all on 7:33 red vinyl 12in, and is a disco smash!

CHERYL LYNN: ‘Got To Be Real’ (CBS 12-6967) (BNDA debut 11/25/78)
Subtly powerful wailing 116bpm Emotions/Chaka Khan-style strutter is on full 5:10 12in complete with long but languid instrumental break – but, amazingly, though the US 7in is the same generous length, here the 7in is just the original LP version’s break-lacking 3:48. Bah!

WINNERS: ‘Get Ready For The Future’ (Ariola ARO 144)
Brass Construction-type 120bpm chugger, huge on import last summer, has a great freaky synthesizer break near the end – ideal for mixing – and is on longer promo 12in or gold vinyl 7in (AROE 144).

JAMES BROWN: ‘For Goodness Sakes, Look At Those Cakes’ (Polydor POSPX 24)
Dull 126bpm rehash of past glories, but the big attraction is the double-A coupling on 12in of his classic 108bpm ‘Sex Machine’, although contrary to advance publicity it’s only 5:14.

WILTON FELDER: ‘Let’s Dance Together’ (ABC ABCT 4244)
Out on 5:57 12in just as it drops from the chart, the plopping 105bpm jazz-funk jogger works best speeded up, but slots nicely into the segue sequence of Ronnie Laws, WF, David Fathead Newman, Gene Chandler (into and out on rhythm breaks), Herbie Hancock.

ISAAC HAYES: ‘Zeke The Freak’ (Polydor POSPX 28)
Largely instrumental freak-tempo 124bpm clapper with an empty old Booker T-type sound, on 4:22 12in, always mixed well in front of Rahni Harris. Gloria Gaynor ‘I Will Survive’ is also on full-length 12in now, by the way.

THE JACKSONS: ‘Blame It On The Boogie’ (Epic EPC 12-6983) (BNDA debut 1/6/79)
Dirty tricks dept: to flog ‘Destiny’ and another non-disco track, Epic now finally couple them on 12in with a really rather good 7:00 remix of their last 114bpm hit.

CRISTINA: ‘Disco Clone’ (ZE 12ZE 001)
Cymbal-schlurping 126bpm hisser in the “singing” model-girl syndrome, remixed for 7:40 12in by Greg James, but the beefier 129bpm flip is like a 10:12 dub and more interesting.